


Up in Flames

by orphan_account



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Fire, Gore, Other, Poverty, Reader is a Legend, pyrokinesis, reader is female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-10-29 20:17:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17814824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In a world striken by poverty and crime, the only escape is to join the Apex Games.A pyrokinetic young woman finds herself in dire circumstances after the murder of her abusive husband. When she meets a mysterious stranger at a bar who introduces her to the infamous Apex Games, she sees this as her only form of escape from her mistakes and from the cruel world around her.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> hi there! Thank you for clicking my story. I do hope you enjoy it! This is a reader/Bloodhound story, but it isn’t only focused on their relationship so don’t worry. 
> 
> The reader in this story has pyrokinesis, which is the ability to manipulate fire with your mind. I found this would be a cool power to have in the Games so I gave it to you, the reader. 
> 
> I’m going to try my best to stay true to the lore, but I may get some things wrong or mixed up so please forgive me beforehand!
> 
> Once again, thanks for clicking and I hope you enjoy!

Prologue

 

The rundown bar was in a more dark, secluded area of the city. It was run by the same men who ran everything there, and it seemed to be the only safe haven for the woman that was situated in the very back with a shot glass in her left hand and a digital magazine in her right.

The grey hoodie she was wearing was pulled up over her head as an attempt to mask her identity to the world around her. The whiskey in her glass burned going down and left her throat feeling dry and scratchy. She knew it wasn’t long before someone would find the dead body of the man she was forced to marry and they would come for her.

Would she become a test subject in a lab? Would scientist probe at her and try to figure out how she had done it? Of course. Being born with powers like her own weren’t exactly out of the ordinary, but they were still uncommon enough to raise eyebrows and intrigue the interest of the others around them.

Or would they arrest her? She had committed a crime, no doubt about it, but she was more than sure the cruel world wouldn’t give her the benefit of rotting away in a prison cell. No, she would become a lab monkey.

Her nails scraped the glass and she slowly set it down, a low sigh leaving her lips. If she was going to become a guinea pig, the last thing she wanted to do with her free will was drink the pain away. Her eyes darted to the digital magazine in her right hand and she began to swipe through the pages, boredom clear on her face, or actually, what bit of her face was unmasked to the world.

Nothing in the magazine seemed to spark her interest. It was all the same. Talk of war, random new shows that were being put out, advertisements for things nobody really could afford or need.

Then she saw it.

The bright red banner and the bold words written on the background. The three people standing in front of said banner with smiles on their faces and their guns held high and close to them.

The Apex Games.

She let out a small hiss and rolled her eyes, quickly swiping to the next page of the magazine. The Apex Games were something she had always looked down upon. She hated just about everything they stood for.

Throwing random people into a battle field and promising them glory and fame if they managed to kill each other and stay alive was simply barbaric to her. The so called ‘Legends’ each had their own reasoning for being there, but she wondered where their sense of humanity was and what they had done to rid themselves of it in order to participate in this killing game.

The woman placed the magazine down and let a sigh pass her lips. For a second it almost seemed like a good idea, but she knew that it was just the alcohol in her body making her think that way.

She was broke and now a criminal on the run. If she entered the Apex Games maybe it would buy her some time and maybe, just maybe, she could make some money out of it.

Those thoughts were dark ones that she shoved to the back of her mind. She wouldn’t kill people for sport. Her situation was dire, but not enough to convince her that she should play God.

Even if she did wish to join, she wasn’t sure if they would even take her. She knew that they would accept random people sometimes that weren’t very good at combat or shooting a gun so that their Legends had an easy kill and a way to keep the crowd interested, but if she wanted to actually participate and try to become a Legend would they even accept her?

She had no combat training. She knew how to fire a gun, but that was only because her father had taught her at a young age. He was an IMC solider that had participated in the Frontier War, but unfortunately met his end halfway through. That memory stuck with her for the longest time and left a bitter taste in her mouth whenever she thought of the organization.

The only thing she could really do well was use her pyrokinesis.

Those powers had been discovered at a young age, but were always kept secret in fear of being discovered. Her parents couldn’t really explain it, and her father wouldn’t dare seek out scientist to. They sheltered her, taught her to never bring out those abilities unless she absolutely had to.

Setting her husband on fire was one of those situations.

He was an abusive, awful man, that her mother had forced her to marry for funds and protection. The city was littered with poverty and crime so when a former soldier shows up at your doorstep, asking for your daughters hand in marriage with a wad of cash, it would be dumb to decline.

Killing him was the only way out.

She stood up from where she was seated and approached the bartender, placing down her empty shot glass so that the mechanical being could fill it up for her. The robot came over and poured whiskey into the glass then turned and walked over to another person to do the same.

The woman sent a silent thank you to the robot and went to raise the glass, but before she could do so a hand grasped her wrist and forced it back down.

Irritation sparked through her and she quickly turned around to snap at whomever felt the need to interrupt her and place their hands on her. Instead of being met by a young sleaze or someone there to arrest her, she came face to face with an older man.

She ticked an eyebrow up at him, annoyance still plain as day on her features. Her shoulders were tense and she was leaning back on her heels, ready to spring at him if necessary.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” He spoke with a thick accent of some type, something she didn’t really recognize.

“What?” She spat back, tugging her wrist free from the hold of the strange man.

His skin was a light brown that didn’t pair well with the white of his beard and hair. His eyes were light and the way they examined her every move left her blood turning cold.

His face twisted into a small smirk and he stepped from her to reach into the front pocket of his pants. Fear clawed at her chest for a short moment and she was sure he was going for a gun or a knife. Oh god. Had they found her? Was it over? Her heartbeat filled her ears and her fight or flight response switched on. She stepped back a tad, bumping into the wooden top of the bar behind her.

Instead of a weapon, the man brought out a small white and red card. He held it in between his pointer finger and middle finger before holding it out for her to take. She blinked, eyebrows furrowing together in frustration. What the hell was that?

She reached forward, grasping the card from him, and flipped it over to read the bold words imprinted on the front.

‘Apex Legends.’

Her stomached churned and she glowered up at him. She opened her mouth to begin berating him, but before she could speak a word he was already walking off and out of the bar, a dagger held in his right hand.

She blinked, a frown tugging at her lips. The card in her hand begun to feel heavy under her fingertips and she leisurely rose it up to examine it once more. It was just a regular card from the look of it, but imprinted on the back were instructions to join the infamous games.

A shaky sigh left her lips and she stared down at the words, running her thumb across surface. Was she really about to do this? Throw away her morals for what? Money? A chance at some form of safety from a lab or prison? Glory?

Things were awful in the city. She couldn’t stand the crime, the poverty, the feeling of never knowing when your next meal would be. It was a horrible thing. They had been abandoned, left to rot and fend for their own. Children would be tossed out onto the streets or sold for a few dollars. People would get sick and die, and nobody seems to really care. It had turned into a survival of the fittest.

Her hand tightened around the card and she angrily shoved it into the back pocket of her pants before she downed the whiskey in her glass and exited the bar.

What did she really have to lose anymore?


	2. The Hunt Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for the kudos, comments, and the bookmarks. hope you guys like this chapter and the code name i picked!

Chapter One

 

An overwhelming feeling of nausea settled into the stomach of the young woman as she stared up at the screen that displayed the Champions.

The outfit that had been provided for her was anything but comfortable and felt incredibly heavy on her frame. The game keepers had asked if there was anything she specially required in order to succeed and she had asked for something that would be heat sustaining as using too much of her fire abilities resulted in herself receiving burns, but they didn’t allow that because it would violate the rules regarding explosives.

She was left with a black turtle neck that was designed to be armor, grey cargo pants, a belt that was aligned with little corduroy pouches for her ammunition, and black combat boots.

She hadn’t told the game keepers what her ‘special moves’ were just yet, as she preferred to keep that a secret until she absolutely needed to use her fire abilities, but they had asked for a code name of sorts and she hadn’t really had much time to think on it so she said the first thing that popped into her head.

‘Firebug’

It was an odd name, no doubt about it, but it was just another word for an arsonist. She prayed that they would never have to learn the real reasoning for picking that name. She vowed to herself that no human in the arena would have to suffer from her abilities. Bullets were one thing, but burning someone alive was another.

So there she stood, surrounded by fifty other people or so who sought the same fame and glory. Some of them looked nervous and a few others looked eager to jump right in. That made her anxious. She hadn’t considered the fact that some people simply joined because they wanted to murder.

A million thoughts began to race through her mind. Which one of the people around her would be her end? How many of them would she be theirs? How many of these poor people were forced into these games because of their financial situations? A wave of sympathy passed over her, but it was quickly diminished when a large platform in front of the stadium screen opened up.

Three people walked upon the platform, silencing the rowdy crowd below them. The one on the farther right was a dark haired Asian woman with strange pale blue pupils that seemed to glow in the light shining down upon her. Her gear was dark and purple with a black cape that left her looking like a mercenary of sorts. She looked very uncomfortable up on stage and she would occasionally glance down at her shoes then force her eyes back up to the crowd.

The person in the middle was someone very hard to describe. They looked almost like a bounty hunter to her with a forest green colored, almost samurai appearing, hat, tan-brown coat with armored shoulder pads, dark brown pants, and grey boots with yellow knee pads. The most notable feature on the person was the black mask surrounding their entire head and, and the red and grey respirator upon the lower half of their face. They truly looked like a force to be reckoned with.

The last Legend was a rather large, Hawaiian man with dark hair and a large grin upon his face. He wore heavy, white and orange padded armor, grey cargo pants, and carried a rather large shield on his left arm. He looked the happiest among the three, though the middle person’s face wasn’t easily seen.

“Please welcome your reigning champions.” A woman’s robotic sounding voice rang over the area and the crowd broke out into an immense applause for the three people standing upon the stage.

She remembered seeing them upon the magazine page back at the bar a few days ago. It hit her now. Those three had the most kills in the entire arena. They were the ones who would be aimed at the most. Those poor people.

As the crowd continued its rowdy cheering, the middle person with the mask rose a gloved hand to silence the room.

Everyone seemed to calm down at that and when the room was silent enough to hear a pin drop, the person began to speak.

“Hello, brethren. I am Bloth Hundur, but you may know me as Bloodhound. Please feel free to address me as such.” They spoke with a heavy accent of some that was a bit hard to identify right off the bat.

The man beside them let out a mighty laugh and gave Bloodhound’s back a rough pat, making them grunt softly and lose their balance a bit. They turned towards the man, a sigh slipping past their lips as they straightened themself back up.

“Welcome to the Apex Games. As many of you already know, we are the top Champions from the last game.” They motioned towards the woman and the Hawaiian man.

The man stood proudly in contrast to the woman, and before Bloodhound could continue their speech he began to introduce himself.

“Hello, brothas! I’m Gibraltar! I can’t wait to face you all in the ring!” He said rather loudly, grinning at the crowd which caused them to erupt in cheers for the large man.

Bloodhound looked at him sideways, their body language showing the small annoyance they felt towards the interruption. It made the woman beside them chuckle softly and hold back a grin of her own.

“As I was saying-“ They cleared their throat before they spoke, drawing the crowds attention back on to them.

“We are your Champions. If the gods bless you, you may just find yourself running among side one of us.” The way they spoke about the ‘gods’ caught her attention. What was their religion? The accent, the getup, the polytheistic religion? Maybe Norwegian? Icelandic?

“The rules of the games are very important so listen close, félagar. You will be partnered up with two other members and placed upon the drop ship, then one of you will decide where you will jump to. Once you have landed, you may scout the area for weapons and ammunition.” Bloodhound stepped to the side to reveal a map upon the screen to the people in the crowd.

The map showed the locations among the arena. There were little markers next to each site that indicated the type of loot found there. Some were highlighted with white while others were blue or purple.

“As you can see on this map, the white markers indicate lower tier loot, such as common pistols and frag grenades. The blue indicates mid tier loot, which will have better guns for you to use. The purple areas are for your top tier items. The best kind of guns, scopes, and other items are found here. Be aware that these places will be targeted.”

Bloodhound stepped back to their original spot as the map changed back to their banners. The hunter crossed their arms as they continued their speech, not allowing for interruptions from either of their comrades.

“The last thing you should know is the Ring. The Ring will be displayed upon your maps and should be your primary destination. There is a field surrounding the arena that will send shockwaves through your body if you are inside it. Your goal, other than staying alive or slátrar, is to keep yourself inside the Ring. If you are outside the Ring when it begins to close, you could die, so keep this in mind.”

They seemed to be finished with their speech and glanced over at the dark haired woman, nodding for her to continue for them.

She frowned a bit, clearly not wishing to do such, but turned to the crowd and awkwardly began to speak to them. She her arms crossed over her to chest in a protective type of way and shifted her feet.

“Remember that you can use whatever abilities you may have here. Anything goes, I guess.” She shrugged, glancing down at her own hands for a moment before looking back up.

“But your efforts may not be worth it and they could get you killed.”

With that, she ceased speaking and stepped back a little to show this. Gibraltar turned to look at her and Bloodhound for his signal to speak, which never came, but he took it anyways.

“Like Wraith said, your abilities can help you out in battle and anything goes! Just remember to do your best! That’s all we have to say to you so we’ll see you out in the arena! Good luck, brothas!” He grinned, sending the crowd a thumbs up.

The crowd roared again for the three Legends and watched as the platform fell once more and they disappeared below.

Was that all to it? Just stay alive and stay inside a circle? What exactly was so entertaining about that to viewers? Firebug frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes scanning the area to see what everyone would do next. To her surprise, a few other people looked just as lost as she felt. What now? Who were her teammates? Did she decide for herself?

She turned towards a dark haired man standing next to her and went to open her mouth to ask him if he knew what do, but a siren sounded right before she could get any words out and the mechanical voice of the woman began to speak once more.

“Please check the group number on the screen of the mobile device provided for you, then head over to the drop ship line.”

With that in mind, everyone began to hastily pull out the mobile devices that the game masters had given them when they received their gear. Firebug took out her own and tapped on the screen, waiting for her teammates and number to load up.

Sure enough, her team number appeared on the screen next to the faces of two other Legends. A rather large ‘seven’ appeared in bold text and two banners appeared on either side of the word.

Her heart stopped when she recognized one of them. It had been the very person just on stage before her who would surely be a target to the other groups.

Bloodhound.

How could she end up with a Champion? Surely there had to be a mistake. Why wouldn’t a champion fight alongside someone who wasn’t a new comer? She felt a little dizzy and she had to push herself up against a nearby wall to make sure she wouldn’t topple over into the crowd of people.

The other person was a man who was wearing some type of hazmat suit and a gas mask. His hair was dark brown and slicked back and he had a beard that showed from the edges of the mask. His name, from what was displayed beside his banner, was Caustic. She wondered if Caustic was new or if he had already been there for a while.

The people around her began to move towards the drop ship line, their devices held tight in their hands. She hadn’t realized the games would be starting right off the bat just yet. She was hoping for maybe a practice round to check out the area or see some of the weapons provided for them, but no. It was beginning.

She quickly followed after the other new Legends until she forced herself into the line. She could see up ahead a robot was checking the group numbers of each person and then they would run into the back entrance of the parked ship shuttle. She swallowed thickly and held her breath as the lined moved. Each passing second was another that made her feel dizzy and sick.

A few moments had gone over and then she was up front. The mechanical assistants stared down at her with dark, soulless eyes and reached for her device to check her team number.

“Number seven!” The robot called out, handing the device back to her and shoving her up a bit to walk up the platform of the ship.

She hastily sprinted up the metal platform and was greeted by a new set of robots at the door. They wasted no time in pointing her into the direction of which her team would be situated at on the ship.

The entire situation reminded her of her old school days when she would have to look around to find her friends at lunch or in a classroom, but the difference was that she didn’t have to kill anyone in school.

“Your team is number seven. They will be over there. Good luck.” The robot called out, giving her another shove on the back to tell her to go on.

Jeez all the robots were so pushy there.

She let a sigh out and tried to calm her nerves as she walked into the ship. Inside she could see the waiting area for where people would take turns jumping off the ship once they found where to land. The very idea of jumping off the thing made her nervous. She had never truly sat down and watched an Apex Game, so she didn’t know every single thing about it. Would they get parachutes? Did anyone even use those anymore?

At further glance, she could see the rest of the new Legends sitting near their teams mates. Most of the groups were newcomers partnered together, but she saw the Wraith woman seated with a brown skinned man and a random person who looked very lost and dazed. She was speaking to them, but they didn’t seem to comprehend anything she was saying.

She lingered for a little too long when checking out the groups and she heard a voice call out to her from the side, startling her a little. She didn’t want to upset anyone before she even got into the arena, but here she was already doing so. She hadn’t realized the person calling for her was a teammate.

“Come! This way!” The voice called out once more and she knew that it was Bloodhound from the accent. She didn’t even have to turn in their direction to confirm it.

She glanced over to see them and the Caustic man seated on the very edge near the opening of the ship. Bloodhound was waving at her, trying to get her attention, while Caustic had his arms crossed and his back pressed up against the ship wall.

She gave Bloodhound a nod and a wave of the hand to show them she heard their call, then began to walk through the small crowd of people who were attempting to find their group. When she finally reached the two Legends, she could feel the sweat forming on her back and her palms. Of course she would be nervous around them. Bloodhound had killed many people in the arena and Caustic just looked like someone that didn’t wish to be fucked with.

“Hello, félagi fighter.” Bloodhound said once she had gotten close enough to the two. Their mask was almost hypnotic to look at and she had to pry her eyes away when she caught herself staring at them.

Caustic sent her a glance, but didn’t mutter a word to her. He looked like he didn’t really care too much for her existence anyways.

“Hey.” She nodded over to Bloodhound, giving them a light smile in return. She didn’t know what that word meant, but she hoped it was something along the lines of ‘friend’ or ‘partner’.

“What is your name?” They asked her, motioning towards the bleachers behind them to take a seat. She followed suit when they sat down, though she had ended up sitting on one side of Caustic and they on the other.

“Oh uh..Firebug.” She answered, trying to keep her voice from cracking with worry. She clasped her hands together in her lap to keep them from shaking as she stared over at the hunter.

Her name seemed to catch Caustic’s attention because the man turned his head in her direction and cocked up a bushy brow at her. She felt extremely small under his piercing green gaze, and she wanted to snap at him and beg him to stop looking at her, but she knew that was rude and she didn’t want to give her crew a bad first impression.

“A fitting name for an insect.” His voice was gruff and a bit strained as he spoke. He let out a rugged cough and then sighed softly before he turned away from her once more.

What he said hadn’t registered for a split second because of the adrenaline rush she was currently experiencing. It took her a minute to think on it and when she realized the man had blatantly insulted her, she could feel the annoyance rising inside her.

“Um..excuse me?” She practically hissed at him as she glanced from Bloodhound to Caustic. She didn’t know Bloodhound at all, but were they just going to let this man spat insults at her?

If she was anything else but nervous she might have been angry enough to actually snap back at him with an insult of her own, but alas all she could think about was an impending doom, violence, and blood.

Caustic shrugged her off and glanced around at the other group of people, almost as if he was dissecting them with his eyes and collecting data. It sent a chill down her spine. She already didn’t like him. He was on the shit list.

“Don’t mind him. You have a very nice name, Firebug.” Bloodhound chimed in, giving her a nod. It reassured her only a tad, but it was nice of them to say.

The conversation between the three didn’t last very long and soon all of the sixty members were inside of the ship. They weren’t given a warning, but she could feel it taking off by the way it lurched forward and by the sound of the engine jets from outside.

Panic began to settle in and she had to grip the metal seat in order to keep from jumping up and asking the robots to let her off. She couldn’t believe she agreed to this. She didn’t think she would ever become this desperate, but there she was, in a killing game, with a mysterious hunter and some dick.

Her mouth felt dry and her knuckles had turned white from how hard she was gripping the seat. Her legs were bouncing a bit and she hadn’t realized that Caustic was staring down at her until she looked up and locked eyes with him.

He was silent for only a moment before he began to speak down to her.

“Nervousness will get you killed. Try not to be a liability.” He almost growled out at her. That wasn’t the response she was hoping for from him.

“I’m not nervous.” She spat back at the man, sending him a sideways glare. Who was he to be calling her an insect and then a liability?

Caustic let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. She could tell he was smirking from behind his mask. He must have taken pride in making other feels like shit about themselves.

“Keep telling yourself that. Maybe you’ll eventually believe it.” He leaned back once more and began to tinker with the oxygen pipes on the side of his suit.

She knew that this man and her wouldn’t be friends.

“What is your-“ She went to jab back at him, but the exit they were seated at nearby began to open and a gust of wind hit her, seemingly knocking the air from her lungs.

She let out a cough and sent a glance to Bloodhound, who began to stand up and motion for their two comrades to follow suit. It was time to drop.

“I will chose our location.” Bloodhound told them, pulling out the mobile device from earlier. They pulled up the map that was displayed on the big screen moments ago and marked an area for them to jump off at.

Firebug wasn’t going to go against anything they said. They seemed to know just was they were doing, maybe a little too well at that. Caustic didn’t seem to have any words of protest at all which was surprising to her. He just gave a nod and stood up alongside the two of them, his arms crossed over his chest once more.

The robots began to call out the group numbers and the three people would step over to the entrance. They were handed jet packs of some sort and were given a small amount of time to decide where they would be jumping and who would decide it. When their time passed, they were forced to jump out of the drop ship and into the arena.

They eventually reached group seven and Bloodhound, Caustic, and Firebug were forced over to the middle of the exit. Firebug shrugged on the jet pack she was handed by one of the robots and turned towards her two team mates, her eyebrows furrowed.

Bloodhound had chosen some place called the Wetlands, promising it would be the best place to start off at, and before she knew it they were jumping out of the shuttle and heading into the arena where the hunt would begin.


	3. The Day is Ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty for the kudos and sweet comments. glad you guys are liking this.
> 
> side note, I absolutely love Caustic but making him act like a weirdo dick is just in character lmao

Chapter Two

 

When their feet touched the surface of the arena a siren sounded indicating the battle had begun. Bloodhound had chosen to land in the Wetlands, which was what Firebug had been expecting it to be simply from its name.

From the name, it sounded like a swampy area, which it was, but where they touched down at was more like an artillery base. She could see zip lines hanging around the area and one was attached to some type of nearby tower. Three banners were displayed upon the tower and she could see Bloodhound, Caustic, and herself plastered upon it. She frowned lightly, idling in her spot for a moment as she stared at their three faces.

“Grab something.” She heard Casutic’s rough voice call through the headset they were given to communicate in case they got far away from one another.

“Right. Sorry.” She sighed back to him and began to walk around the area, searching for a weapon or anything else that she could use.

She turned a corner near the tower and saw a white and red bin that had a faint yellow glow on the lid. She was a bit scared to touch it at first, but sucked it up and popped it open to avoid any comments from Caustic. A first aid kit, gun, ammo, and a glowing blue chest piece were sitting inside. 

She reached forward and scooped up the med kit and gun along with the ammo. She wasn’t too familiar with the terminology of the gun, but it wasn’t a pistol or a shotgun so she held on to it. She turned to grab the blue body armor, but before she could Caustic was next to her and in a second he yanked it from her.

She sent him a sideways glare and the man responded with a shrug. His eyes darted to the weapon she was holding and she heard him snort through the communication device. 

“What?” She growled, her ears beginning to feel hot and her skin crawled with his eyes back on her.

“That Longbow will surely be an independent variable in your demise.” The man sighed softly, turning from her and beginning to walk in another direction.

“What the fuck does that mean?” She called out to him, but he didn’t answer and continued on.

She glared down at the weapon and then up at the man’s back, her fist tightening around the handle. She wondered if shooting your squad mate would disqualify you.

“Let’s go this way.” She heard Bloodhound’s voice ring through her communication device and she saw an area they marked on the map when her mobile device pinged.

She could see the Ring on the map as well that was circled and not too far from them. Bloodhound obviously wanted to head in that direction before it closed or maybe they were just eager to start.

 

She decided to make do with the Longbow and followed after Caustic when she saw the man beginning to run in the direction of the pinged area. Bloodhound wasn’t in sight just yet, but she had a good feeling they were most likely ahead of the two other Legends. She really didn’t want to be stuck next to Caustic for any more time.

They rounded a corner and came upon an area where three supply bins were situated out in the open. Bloodhound was standing next to one that they had just opened and was grabbing boxes of ammunition from inside it. 

She watched as Caustic walked over to an untouched one and examined the items inside before he grabbed some ammunition in an orange container and went to open the last one. 

She made a dash for it and was at his side the moment he lifted the top up. She saw a scope in the bin and yanked it before he could even register her being there. If he wanted to play like that she had no problems with it. She heard him let out a small grunt of displeasure, but he didn’t say anything back to her.

She smirked to herself at the way his eyebrows furrowed and turned towards Bloodhound to see them messing around with the little pouches across their chest. They brought out a thing of ammunition in a green box and handed it over to her, giving it a light rattle.

“Here. You will be needing this for that gun.” They nodded over to her Longbow and she hesitantly accepted the ammo they were holding out to her.

“Thank you. I guess I should find another one soon, huh?” She glanced down at the weapon once more, embarrassment creeping up her throat, and tucked away the ammo into her pouches before she began to run once more.

Bloodhound kept a steady pace with her to which she was grateful for and she saw that they would occasionally glance down at their map to make sure they were going the right way. They would also glance around the area as if they were searching for something, but they never said word of anything they saw.

“What makes you say that?” They asked, their head turned slightly to make eye contact with her, though she couldn’t necessarily see their eyes.

“Caustic sorta told me this weapon would get me killed.” She frowned, glancing back at the older man who was a few feet behind them. 

He didn’t seem to want to keep up with them. If anything, it seemed like he liked to be towards the back where he could watch. She didn’t know if that meant her and Bloodhound or the enemies, but she didn’t wish to know either.

Bloodhound sounded a bit taken aback by that, but they just shook their head and continued to run beside her.

“It fires very slowly. That is the only concern. Do not worry, I’m sure you’ll be alright.” That really didn’t reassure her too much, but it was better to hear that than a snarky comment.

She didn’t say anything after that and continued to run beside them until they were brought upon a hill. She could see that nearby was another artillery base that had a bridge connected to it and another area that was surrounded by even more hills. She could see a few buildings inside the hilly area and a few more creates aligning the sides.

She began to move towards the building area, hoping to find a better weapon than the Longbow, but Bloodhound grabbed her wrist and forced her to stop in her tracks. She sent them a glance of confusion and went to ask what was wrong, but stopped when saw them hitting a button on their wrist and felt a small pulse of energy. An orange light surround the area and disappeared within a few second. Their head snapped towards one of the nearby building and they pointed over at it, keeping their voice low.

“Enemies inside.” The hunter let go of her wrist and brought out their gun once more before they began to approach the building in a stealthy crouch.

A cold sweat formed on her brow and her chest clutched tightly with a small pang of fear. If enemies were nearby, they could shoot her and kill her. They could also kill Bloodhound and then she wouldn’t know what to do except run away like a coward.

 

Caustic she was okay with letting die.

 

Not really, but he wasn’t a real concern to her at the moment.

 

“Bloodhound.” She hissed over to the hunter as she crouched down and began to walk into the area of the buildings with them.

Maybe they could just leave? Did they really have to advance on enemies who weren’t messing with them? It seemed a little too bloodthirsty to her. 

Her hands shook slightly as she gripped her gun’s handle and she could have sworn she heard a bird caw from nearby, but she convinced herself that it was only her imagination. The arena seemed to be pretty closed off so animals probably couldn’t find a way in even if they wanted to.

Bloodhound never bothered to answer her and instead continued to keep their gaze set upon the building they had said their enemies were located at. They rounded a corner and crouched down by the nearby red and white door, listening closely. They held their gun tightly and aimed it towards the side of the door so when the enemies opened it, they wouldn’t have anywhere to run.

 

Caustic had soon caught up and quickly understood the situation when he saw the two crouched down beside the building. He knew what was happening and seemed throughly excited. He quickly brought out a rather large canister and approached the other side of the building where the exit door was at, preparing the people inside for their sudden end. He placed the gas trap down in front of the door to keep them inside and moved back a bit with his gun aimed at the top of it to set it off.

“Bloodhound?” She whispered again to the hunter, fear etching it’s way up into her voice as she crouched beside them. She grabbed the side of the building with one hand to steady herself as she tried to glance into the building through the door. 

She didn’t know what to do if they came out. Did Bloodhound just plan to go in with guns blazing and single handedly kill all three members? Was she suppose to aim at a certain one while Caustic aimed at another? On a normal basis, she wouldn’t be overthinking like this, but considering the situation it was expected.

Bloodhound rose a hand up at her to ask her to be silent, which she unwillingly obliged to and sat back to wait for their move. She would just shoot at whichever person they were aiming for. If they both took someone down at the same time then they could quickly move on to the next person together. That was at least what she thought.

The people inside were taking their sweet time collecting loot or healing up. She wondered if maybe they were even still in there. 

She slowly moved over to glance through the small window that was situated on the side of the building to see what was going on inside, and sure enough they were still there. 

She saw two men and a woman she didn’t recognize inside standing in the corner of the room. The men were trading bullets while the woman was inserting a syringe into her wrist. They all looked a bit scruffy and winded like they had just left a fight. Most likely there were still other enemies nearby if that was the case.

Before she could muster up any more courage to say Bloodhound’s name again and alert them, the sound of a bullet flying past her ear startled her. She glanced back to see one of the members aiming the gun at her through a little sliver of window. The bullet had barley grazed her ear, but it was enough to pump adrenaline through her and send her into panic mode.

 

Her heart beat grew louder and the world tilted as she stared at the person like a deer in headlights. They glared back at her and reared their weapon up once more to take another aim at her. She couldn’t move for a moment having been frozen with panic. It was like her body shut down on her. Her feet felt like they had sunk into the ground below her and the weapon in her hand felt heavy.

She took a deep breath and subconsciously gripped the side of the building tighter, closing her eyes to prepare for the bullet that would soon find itself in her flesh, but it never came. 

Instead of hearing more gunshots, she heard screams from within the building and the smell of smoke filled her nostrils in a matter of seconds. It was something too familiar that made her sick.

It was enough to force her eyes back open to witness the carnage of what she had done.

The building that was once standing before her untouched was now engulfed in cerise flames from the top to the bottom. The people inside that hadbeen standing there with one another only a few minutes ago were now attempting to break down the nearby doors and the window by her. One of them began to beat and kick on the door and another screamed for someone to let them out, but neither Bloodhound nor Caustic moved to do such.

Her eyes widened in a fear stricken gaze and she turned her head over to see Caustic starting over at her with a taken aback look before it diminished and turned to annoyance. He snapped his head back towards the door when it began to rattle and lurched forward to hold it down so that the people inside couldn’t escape.

Within a matter of moments, the screams of the three enemies increased and then slowly deceased and the building was left a sizzling mess of metal and brick. The fire around it crackled and flickered in the wind and it slowly begun to die down until it was reduced to a black mess of ash and an unidentifiable mass structure with doors.

 

At that point, Caustic and Bloodhound had retreated back from the building to avoid getting burnt themselves and were staring over at Firebug as she sat near the window in the same spot as before.

She could feel the dying heat radiating off of the building and the intoxicating smell was still wafting in the air.

She still couldn’t force herself to move, as her legs felt more like steel than flesh, and her stomach began to twist and churn from what had just happened.

It didn’t take long for her to register that she had started the fire.

Fear had taken over and forced it out of her it had seemed. It wasn’t like this was a first time occurrence anyways. The same thing had happened that night she ended up killing the man she had married. She hadn’t meant to do it, and she hadn’t meant to do this either.

Her hands still felt warm and she forced herself to look down at them. The area where her feet were planted had tinged the soil black and her palms were covered in soot. She closed her hands and looked back up through the window until her eyes spotted the one thing she hadn’t wished she saw.

Lying on the ground were the bodies of the three enemies. Their skin was a blazing red-brown color and bubbled up in certain areas with blisters. Most of their clothing had been burnt completely off of their bodies and their hair was totally gone at that point. The smell of burnt flesh began to leak from within the building, mixing with the scent of burnt. It reminding her of beef and charcoal, and that image plus the smell and her nerves was all it took for the woman to turn around and puke out whatever she had inside of her stomach.

 

Her throat felt scratchy and the familiar sting settled upon it as she threw up. Her hands hit the ground as she grabbed for anything to steady herself when she leaned over. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she dry heaved and almost slumped forward. Her form shook and she let out a small choking noise as she coughed, gagged, then spit the taste of bile out. 

Guilt struck her harder than she thought it would and she began to regret everything. Being there was wrong. It was all a mistake. She promised this wouldn’t happen, but it did. She had burnt three people alive on pure accident and her teammates had allowed it to happen unrelentingly.

 

She wanted to go home.

 

But really was there a home for her back on her planet? Not a physical one, of course. That had been burnt down.

 

When she finally ceased her puking, she stared down at the ground and sobbed until all she could do was make small noises. She could feel the pair of eyes upon her and she refused to force herself to look up and meet them. Caustic would probably be glowering down at her and since she could never tell how Bloodhound because of the mask, she could only assume they’d be disappointed in her.

She let out a shaky breath and moved a hand up to wipe away the tears, but instead a gloved one beat her there. Their thumb swiped across her cheek and they pressed their warm palm against the side of her face in a comforting manner.

Before she could mutter any words of thanks to them, she felt the person pulling her up to stand.

Bloodhound let go of her after they had gotten her to her feet, but they weren’t saying anything dejecting and didn’t seem to be angry towards her. They simply stood them and stared at her.

“Now is not the time for this. We’re out in the open in a dangerous area.” They said softly, but also a tad sternly to show their seriousness on the situation. They almost sounded like a parent scolding their child.

She gave them a nod, biting back the need to apologize to them, and turned to look at Caustic. He was already on his merry way towards the next area on the map that was marked and didn’t seemed to care for her problems.

 

She heard Bloodhound sigh and she turned in their direction once more with a frown. She really had messed things up and then had freaked out on them. She was embarrassed and upset and angry towards herself for being a coward. She was also angry that she had convinced herself this was something she could do when it wasn’t. 

She didn’t want to lose Bloodhound’s trust, if she even had it in the first place, and she also didn’t want them to think any less of her. She wasn’t in full control of her abilities and she knew that she could be a hazard for the team if she didn’t get that together. She also knew that to some she would come off as weak for the crying and puking.

She hadn’t even told her team about those abilities. It must have came off as a shock at first, but she was sure they had seen other things in the arena that were just as surprising. She turned towards the hunter to explain herself and hopefully apologize to them.

 

“Blood-“

 

“Later, félagi.” The hunter spoke to her a bit softer than before, almost as if they were attempting to comfort her in their own way.

There was a hint of urgency in their voice, but other than that they kept a level head and a cool demeanor around her as they began to run in the direction Caustic had sprinted off to.

“We must move before the Ring closes.”


End file.
